


Hold My Heart a Little Tighter

by notourmoniker (notyourmoniker)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 10:48:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18636619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notyourmoniker/pseuds/notourmoniker
Summary: Two times Regina held Snow White's heart in her hand.





	1. Chapter 1

Regina’s hand were beautiful, with long fingers and smooth clean skin. Those hands were soft and gentle, and Snow knew how tender they could be.

They had brushed knots from her hair, held her hand, cupped her face as she and Regina kissed, and elicited low breathy moans in their secret and shared nights.

Those hands, like Regina herself, were kind and unmarked.

Even after her father’s death, Snow struggled to picture them any other way.

But after months of running and hiding in the woods, Regina appeared in a village - clothed in black and hunting Snow White.

Watching from a distance, she saw the woman she loved snarl when her questions were met with stubborn silence and unquestioning loyalty for the princess.

Then, one of those hands - one whose touch Snow still craved - reached inside of a man and ripped his heart from his chest.

Her grip tightened. But even as the blood red heart turned to dust, even as Snow’s own heart shattered at the sight, Regina’s hands remained smooth and clean.


	2. Chapter 2

The first time Regina held Snow White’s heart in her hand, it was unlike any she had held before. It was bright red, unblemished by darkness, and fluttering like a hatchling - pressing softly into the rough skin of Regina’s palm. She could have crushed it then, should have.

But as Snow stood before her, slow tears streaming down her face, Regina did nothing but watch her heart.

This was what she wanted. A squeeze and it would turn to dust. Finally, she would have happiness. How _easy_ it would be.

But with an unexpected fury, Regina slammed the heart back into Snow’s chest - making her topple backwards with the force of it.

Sneering she said, “You think you deserve an _easy_ death, Snow White?”

Her quiet tears threatened to turn into sobs, and Regina bit back a long abandoned tenderness.

“You don’t deserve this.”

A little tenderness made it out anyway.

Biting back all the harder, Regina spit venom instead, “You deserve to suffer.”

And then she grabbed Snow’s face, pulling her close. But as her fingers pressed into wet cheeks, she could feel Snow’s heartbeat, and she pushed her away.

“You will have no easy penance for your crimes.”

Her voice echoed into the forest as she disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

Later, in the castle that was hers and yet never really would be, Regina trembled. Her hand quivered as she brought it to her face with a look of pain and awe and anguish.

She had held Snow White’s heart in her hand and had not crushed it. Because even now, far from the loamy scent of the forest, leagues between her and the girl she had sworn to kill, Regina could still feel Snow White’s heart in her hand, beating gently in time with her own.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and reviews are welcome and much appreciated!


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